responding to a nosy coworker, is discussing a march too political for work, and more

by Alison Green on March 6, 2025

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Was talking about a march for science too political for work?

I’m hoping you can help settle a disagreement a friend and I are having about a situation that came up in my work today.

I work as a physician at a large academic hospital, and my department had our monthly faculty meeting today. As part of the meeting, our department chair discussed the current state of NIH funding going to our department. We do a large amount of research and have a number of labs dependent on NIH grants that may be affected by the current administration. He told us that there is a march for science this Friday (they are being held simultaneously in cities all over the country) and suggested that anyone who is interested and able to attend should do so, but not to wear anything that would identify us as employees of this hospital or to give any comments that could be seen as being on behalf of the hospital.

On a basic level, losing funding risks labs getting shut down and my colleagues losing their jobs. I would argue that most, if not all, of us work here because of the reputation of this institution and the research performed here is a big part of that. (Trust me, we get paid less than we would at many other similar hospitals because we believe in what we do).

My friend thinks that this was wrong for my chair to do because it is mixing politics in a professional environment. I see this as the chair providing us with information about the situation and encouraging us to advocate on behalf of our hospital, colleagues, patients, and research. What do you think? (I’m planning to march.)

I’m with you. Your chair was providing information that many of you would find relevant to your jobs, and was also providing info you might not have had otherwise (to not identify yourself as employees of the hospital or appear to be speaking on its behalf). “Don’t mix politics in a professional environment” applies when it’s something like announcing a campaign rally for a candidate or promoting a pro-choice march if your jobs had nothing to do with reproductive health care. It doesn’t apply when the issue in question is so tightly entwined with your labs’ ability to survive.

2. How are these layoffs happening so quickly?

I used to work at a large NGO that receives a lot of government funding. With the recent administration change, I’ve seen many of my old colleagues, including many who work in non-government-funded positions, announce that they’ve been laid off.

How can these layoffs be happening so quickly? It seems like within one week, funding that took months to secure has vanished. Is the funding truly gone? Or are these companies using this as a reason to let people go? Plus, how can it be affecting non-government-funded positions so quickly? I thought WARN notices were required before eliminating jobs.

Yes, it can happen that quickly (and is). First, while a position may not be directly government-funded, it can depend on grants or other sources of funding that have government funding somewhere in the chain. Second, some funders are changing their funding priorities in response to the new administration’s actions. Third, making adjustments in one area can affect a different area; for example, an organization might realize it’s going to lose $X in funding over the next year so they’re reconfiguring staffing and budgets now in order to prioritize programs A and B, even though that will mean cutting programs C and D.

The WARN Act requires most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 days notice if they’re laying off 50 or more people at once or to pay the equivalent amount of time in severance. If they have fewer than 100 employees or they’re not laying off 50+ people, it wouldn’t be in effect.

3. Responding to a nosy coworker

My coworker is well-meaning and big-hearted but doesn’t have a lot of personal boundaries. She shares a lot about her own personal life issues such as past family drama and medical issues, also shares personal life and medical issues of her children and husband, and has even shared very personal information from coworkers.

I’ve also noticed her tendency to not just overshare, but pry a bit as well. For example, I had to share the news of a recent death of a distant coworker we did some work with (relevant to our jobs) and she demanded to know who I heard it from (really not relevant). Overall, I like her but she can be really off the wall with certain comments at times.

Today, I sent my team a notification letting them know I’d be stepping out for a dentist appointment for my regular, twice-a-year cleaning. After that, she sent me a private message along the lines of, “We both have more medical appointments than the rest of the team! I’m not trying to pry — you don’t have to share any details — but I’m sending thoughts and prayers and wanted to make sure you’re okay!”

Not only is this a weird comment, but, frankly, I don’t! This year I had a normal annual physical, two dentist appointments, and then the occasional “thing” that might come up for anybody, like seeing an allergist this year. That’s pretty much it.

We have a pretty casual work culture where we’re salaried and free to take off for appointments as long as our work is done, so I’m wondering if she’s confusing personal appointments (car appointments, etc.) for medical appointments? I don’t always give details when I step away for an appointment so she may be assuming what the term “appointment” means.

I responded with a quick “Hey thanks but I’m healthy, just good about getting my checkups!” and moved on. But I would love to hear if there’s a better way to handle coworkers bringing up something like this and setting good boundaries. Do I ignore? Eyebrow raise and say, “How odd, what makes you say something like that?” (I’m not sure she’d pickup on that level of subtly.) Go nuclear and say, “Whoa, that’s way inappropriate”?

We have a cordial but distant relationship on the whole, mainly on my part because of her tendency to overshare or gossip. Given that, although this was definitely crossing a serious boundary, it hasn’t been a persistent issue and I’m not sure how strong of a response something like that would require.

Nah, your response was fine. It allowed you to just quickly move on rather than getting in a discussion of boundaries with her, which is a fine choice to make (unless you want to get into it with her).

Sometimes the key with people like this is to just studiously not take the bait. So you also could have just ignored her message entirely (particularly since she said she wasn’t trying to pry! let’s pretend to take her at her word).

4. Should I address a rumor about my company being awful?

I am a payroll specialist who processes payroll for over 1,000 electricians. Today I heard that there is a rumor going around one of our largest sites that my company lays people off after 90 days to avoid paying out any sick time (field employees can accrue and use up to 40 hours per year, but can’t use it until their 91st day of employment).

This is not true! We are a leading electrical contractor in our state and, honestly, the time and resources it takes to onboard employees would hardly make it financially sensible to be laying people off willy-nilly. Not to mention getting such an unethical practice like this past the union!

What I heard specifically was this: a site administrator told me “I heard someone say…,” meaning a current employee. In my experience, these things spread like wildfire among the crew(s). And the admin seemed genuinely relieved when I told her that it wasn’t true so I’m afraid people are actually believing it!

Should I say something? I have a good relationship with both my manager and our director of field personnel. Should I tell them what I heard?

I don’t think there’s enough here that you really need to act on it … but if you’re concerned that there’s misinformation out there, there’s nothing wrong with sharing that concern with your manager and/or the field personnel director and letting them decide if they want to address it. Just be careful to specify exactly what you heard, so it’s clear that you’re not hearing it from multiple people (which doesn’t mean multiple people don’t believe it — maybe they do — but you don’t want to overstate what you actually know).

5. Can I be told to use PTO for partial-day sick leave when I’m exempt?

I’m a salaried exempt computer programmer working from home, which means sometimes I have the luxury of working a few hours beyond the weekly 40 when inspiration strikes.

Yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well so I stopped working at about 10 am. My boss asked today if I was going to file for PTO or if I’d be making it up.

I’ve read your post here to make sure I was right about the FLSA. It’s come up before, but I’m not sure he believed the bit about how working any part of a week means getting paid for the full week. Anyway, he’s a good supervisor and we have a friendly relationship, but how do I tell him he’s wrong about this?

I asked an AI and it said my company could require that I take PTO when I’m sick, but that doesn’t seem right — so I thought I’d ask a real intelligence.

The AI got it right. As an exempt worker, you need to be paid your full salary when you work any part of a week (with some narrow exceptions, like your first and last week at a job), but that’s is only about pay. It doesn’t have anything to do with docking time from your PTO balance, and your company can still require you to use PTO for time that you miss. It’s pretty common for companies to do that, particularly when you’re missing nearly an entire day of work. (I’d consider it nickel-and-diming you if they told you to use PTO for an hour here and an hour there when you’re regularly working extra hours, but in this case you missed nearly a full day of work so it’s not that outrageous.)

Related:
my manager is nickeling and diming me on vacation time while I’m working 27 days in a row

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{ 70 comments }

{ 70 comments… read them below or add one }

  1. Anon4This*

    #4 – At least your company lets you use sick leave in increments. Mine only lets us exempt people do full 8-hour days which means if I stop working with a migraine midday on a Thursday, I either have to work 12 hours on Friday or burn 8 hours of leave to hit the expected 40. Ugh.

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    1. Cmdrshprd*

      I actually think this is what OP has to do as well, and part of the frustration/reluctance. they have to file for PTO for a full day.

      In your specific situation do you have to take PTO for leaving an hour or two early.

      I would say expecting you to make up some time is understandable for 36 vs 40, but if you work 38 or 39 you shouldn’t have to use PTO. do you actually have to make it up on Friday could you do it on Saturday?

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  2. Certaintroublemaker*

    For LW4, is there an all-employee newsletter? Bulletin boards everyone sees? Website? Regular company social get-togethers? What I’m thinking is doing a regular (monthly / quarterly / annually) announcement to say, “Congratulations to [list of people] who have reached their one year anniversary with us! And our other milestone celebrants, 5 years [list of people], 10 years [list of people], etc.” This would make it obvious people do stay!

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    1. Marion Ravenwood*

      I work in internal communications and have done this sort of thing quite regularly in previous jobs, usually combined with the new starters/leavers announcements. If I was OP #4 I’d get in touch with their comms team (if they have one) and ask what they could do to help with getting this out there.

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  3. Cmdrshprd*

    OP5 IMO you are being given a choice that seems pretty fair. You can make up the 6/7 hrs, I wouldn’t feel compelled to be so strict, like make up 5 or so that plus the 1 hr you already worked is 6, no different than leaving 2 hrs early one day.
    Or if you have other things going or just don’t feel like making it up, using 8hr when you were out 7 is not a big deal. if you really feel like being even leave 1 hr early another day.

    leaving at 10 really is missing the entire day.

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  4. TimeOffNorms*

    OP5, every exempt job I’ve ever had required you to hit 40 hours each week or take some form of time off for the missed hours. This is true even if you work 38 or 39 hours. Most are perfectly happy to have you make up time missed one day some other time during the week, but you still need to hit 40. Usually even when you worked 70-80 hours the week before.

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      1. Silver Robin*

        yes and it is the downside of being salaried. You do not really get time in lieu when you work over time. It is just expected that managers be reasonable about this stuff…ha

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      2. Nebula*

        It’s not universal, my experience has always been that it’s flexible i.e. you get time off in lieu. Not that I’ve ever worked a 70-80 hour week, but if I have worked overtime then I’ll work shorter hours the following week. However, starting work and then stopping at 10am would count as a sick day – if you’re going to take a whole day off, it’s still normal that this would have to be approved in advance, unless it’s because you’re ill or whatever – as in this case.

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    2. Retired Vulcan Raises 1 Grey Eyebrow*

      Sounds a very different system in the US – is it because salaried people somehow hate regard clocking in/out and so there is no independently documented proof of how much overtime?

      My salaried jobs in Europe had automatic clocking in/out whenever I badged in/out, so every minute I worked over went in my comp time account, to be taken at quieter times during the week/year, e.g. comp days, leaving early, longer lunch. I loved the flexibility once these computerised badging systems came in (around 1990).
      However, even before then, we still had comp time, just not as flexible and we had to estimate extra hours earned, scribbling frantically on paper forms which then needed the manager’s signature (never refused afaik)

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      1. Snow Globe*

        That’s not necessarily standard (and maybe it varies by industry?). I work in the US and I’ve never had to use PTO for taking an hour or two for a medical appointment.

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        1. Bast*

          It also depends on how much of a stickler your boss is and how difficult they want to make it. I have worked in the same field for years (salaried throughout the majority of it) and while in my current job, taking an hour or two out for a medical appointment would be no big deal, I had other jobs where it would be expected that I would either take the time out of my PTO or make it up. The job where I had to make it up was quite toxic in other ways too — as Old Boss put it “Salary means 40 is the MINIMUM you should be doing” aka you were always expected to go “above and beyond” and work a 45 or 50 hour week without complaint. It did not, however, work the other way around. It didn’t matter if I worked a 50 hour week the week before — pigs would fly before it was ever acceptable to leave early for an appointment and NOT make it up.

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      2. Don’t know what to call myself*

        I feel like the problem is that since salaried workers are exempt from the law that dictates how overtime is handled and the US doesn’t have any national laws about sick leave (apart from the FMLA which just says your boss can’t fire you for taking sick leave of 12 weeks or less), every company is going to have its own system for how to handle this stuff. Some companies will give their salaried staff comp time when they go over 40 hours, some won’t. Some companies will let all those extra hours you worked cover for the time off you need for a doctor’s appointment, some won’t. There are very few laws protecting American workers, and even fewer of them apply to salaried workers.

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      3. Amy*

        I’ve never had hours tracked as a salary employee in the US.

        I’m technically 37.5 hours. Some weeks I probably work 34, some weeks 40. No one is focused on the hours as long as I’m getting my deliverables done.

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    3. OaDC*

      I’ve never had this experience. I’ve never had to track my hours as a salaried exempt employee, and a reasonable amount of flexibility is the trade off for frequent weeks that are longer than 40 hours. Reasonable would generally mean less than 4 hours. If I took off at three on a slow Friday that would be fine and if I took off at noon I would take a half day of PTO.

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      1. Red Reader the Adulting Fairy*

        Same. Our standard policy for exempt folk (who are generally assumed to work 8 hour days M-F) is that PTO can only be taken in 4-hour increments and if you work at least 5 hours in a particular day, no PTO is required to make up the rest. (I, and everyone else I know, has always understood that to be an occasional thing for appointments and such to be handled between you and your manager, not blanket permission to routinely work only 5 hours a day.)

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  5. Ellis Bell*

    OP3’s colleague must be really dedicated to gossip if she’s willing to make someone feel paranoid about the frequency of their medical appointments as a very transparent bait. I particularly liked the forced teaming element of this message. I take OP’s word that this colleague otherwise likeable, but she has a problem; where gossip is concerned, she’ll go quite a way to get it. I can’t think of anything more likely to drive her nuts, than to ignore the message completely, it also sends a message that the bait is not tempting and fools no one. She’ll probably switch to digging for dirt in person and this is where you just respond with grey rocking, and pretending to believe anything useful; “Oh, I know that you wouldn’t pry! Anyway, nothing to report.” But if she says anything about your time off, don’t justify yourself and if you can’t ignore it, put it back on her plate to explain “I don’t think you have that right. What makes you think that?”

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      1. xylocopa*

        I dunno, that seems like she’d take it as fuel– Ooooooh, there’s something to Not Pry about after all!

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    2. I.T. Phone Home*

      Thinking about “driving her nuts” or “putting it back on her plate” is still so much more involved than I’d want to be.

      Reply ↓
  6. supply closet badger*

    A former boss of mine did something kind of similar to LW1’s boss but handled it much worse (to the point it *was* inappropriate, IMO), so maybe a comparison will be illustrative for your friend:

    My boss: Snarked in an all-hands meeting about how he’d expected to see more of us at a recent march*
    LW boss: Calmly (?) informed and encouraged staff to attend if feasible, without the implication that he was keeping tabs on who went and would judge them for it

    My boss: Subject of the march, while important, was not (or extremely tangentially) related to our work
    LW boss: Can point to a direct and near-immediate connection between employees’ ability to do and keep their jobs and the subject of the march

    My boss: Proceeded to take up more meeting time with his commentary about specific speeches, etc.
    LW boss: Didn’t get into the weeds of what you might call a political discussion (by the sounds of the letter)

    I hope this shows that there can be an appropriate and an inappropriate way to engage with staff on this sort of matter.

    *There were a couple of thousand people at this thing, so could it be he just hadn’t spotted us in the crowd, perchance … ?

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  7. Nodramalama*

    Is lw5 some kind of American specific thing, because I’m pretty confused that anyone would expect to not work 90% of the work day, and not take leave for that time.

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    1. bamcheeks*

      In the UK if you come in and then go home later because you’re ill it’s not usually counted as an absence. But if it was, it would be sick leave, not annual leave, and they’re quite different.

      Also, if you regularly work significantly over 40 hours a week, then I do think the same grace should be extended in the opposite direction. But it’s clearly grace rather than a legal right.

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    2. Michigander*

      I suppose one difference is that in the US you have much more limited leave. I’m in the UK and if I work part of the day and then go home sick I don’t need to take sick leave, but it wouldn’t really matter to me if I needed to, since I don’t have a limited bank of sick leave. Taking a sick day now doesn’t mean I have one fewer sick day to take later. I can see being annoyed at taking sick leave in America because you only have 10 days a year allotted to you for being sick (though I agree with you that 10 am is too early to finish for the day and not expect to use any leave time).

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      1. Varthema*

        Yep, and it’s also the practice of putting all paid time off (sick and annual leave) into one (very small) bucket. I really don’t get why people are okay with this; even if some years you don’t get sick and can take extra time off at Christmas, another year a bad bout of the flu could totally wipe out your ability to recharge all year and that’s not okay.

        IMO the only reasonable approach is unlimited sick days (with some kind of extra communication/agreement in place for extended or repeated time off) so that people aren’t forced to ration out their health on the one hand, but also not looking for excuses to “use it up” on the other. Anyway that’s how it should work for jobs that are based on outcomes and deliverables rather than coverage; the need for coverage does make this more complex for sure.

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        1. DJ Abbott*

          I would like to have all my PTO in one bucket because two years in a row I’ve been sick in January and had to use vacation time to cover the days. My employer credits all the vacation time for the year at the beginning of the year, but sick time accrues at a rate of one day per month, so I only had two days left over from the previous year. As long as the PTO works out to the same number of days I would got having them separate, I would like it better.
          But I agree, unlimited sick days would be much better!

          Reply ↓
          1. londonedit*

            Yes; the key part of how it works in the UK is also that you don’t have to accrue sick time (which also just seems like a ridiculous way of doing things, because as you say you might well be ill in January!). The idea of having to use holiday time to cover sick leave just isn’t a thing here. Of course we still have companies that are bad about sick leave and that punish employees who take ‘too much’ time off, but still your annual leave is your annual leave and sick time is completely different. I can’t fathom the idea of not wanting to take holiday because you might get ill. Here you’re encouraged to use your legally required annual leave allowance and if you’re ill then that’s a completely different process that has nothing to do with holiday.

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        2. I should really pick a name*

          I really don’t get why people are okay with this

          Being okay with it really isn’t a factor. It’s not like you can change how your job handles time off.

          Also, separating time off into buckets makes more sense, but for someone like me who doesn’t get sick often, a single pool is great.

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        3. AlsoADHD*

          I know some people hate Unlimited (because it can be problematic at places where people don’t take their time, though both places I’ve worked with Unlimited had required minimums, just no max—yes, it’s not truly limitless if you go crazy with it but it’s been more than reasonable by US standards at both places and no nickel and diming). But this is one benefit I’ve had with unlimited is I take at least 20 days planned vacation plus any sick time I need (might take less planned vacation on a year where I had to take a long leave for medical reasons etc. but for normal medical needs, I just don’t even think about them). That’s not even counting holidays or an end of year (Xmas to NY) shut down.

          Before I had Unlimited, I had decent PTO with buckets and it was frustrating with sick time left on the table or not having enough. But it’s very nice to just be trusted to do my job and not punch a clock. Granted, I feel like there are jobs where you want credit for all your hours but I would hate to be hourly and have to deal with that. It always made me feel awful clocking in or minding a clock.

          I think the UK does separate buckets and no penalties for sick leave, but I’ve never seen that in the US except for salaried and unlimited. Never in a bucket system.

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    3. Seeking Second Childhood*

      I do wish that OP had specified what time they start. Some IT departments are staffed extended hours to support other time zones.

      In my (non-IT) job I was at one point working 6:00 am – 2:30 pm, so 10 am would have been a half day. We could take sick time in increments down to 1 hour.

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    4. Hastily Blessed Fritos*

      No, it’s just this guy. I can see not taking sick leave for an hour or two if you’re salaried, but he basically took the whole day. He clearly needs to take the sick day.

      Reply ↓
  8. JM60*

    #5 I think the partial exception is if you live in a state that considers PTO/vacation to be an earned wage (such as California). In that case, they can still require that you use the PTO, but I think they would have to pay you both for cashing out that PTO, and for the (partial) day worked.

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    1. Mid*

      Can you explain further? I’m fairly certain you’re incorrect. You are getting paid, by using PTO hours instead of your time at work. So by your explanation, it sounds like someone would be double paid when taking PTO.

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      1. Sola Lingua Bona Lingua Mortua Est*

        I think JM60 means that, if you leave after 2 hours and are charged a full 8 for the day of PTO, then you’d have to be paid for 10 hours for that day. Alternatively, the business could charge you just 6 hours of PTO for leaving early, leaving the pay at 8 hours for the day.

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    2. AlsoADHD*

      In this case, they’re not requiring the LW to use a full day, just a partial to make up the pay of the day not worked, so I don’t think they are underpaying either. It would be fine in CA law to require LW use a partial day of PTO. You might have trouble with a policy that required he use a full day if he also worked that day is what you mean?

      Reply ↓
  9. Melisande*

    #LW2 in the UK it is illegal to operate without sufficient funds to pay employees, so grant-dependent staffing can very quickly be ended to avoid putting the wider organisation at risk.

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    1. Retired Vulcan Raises 1 Grey Eyebrow*

      I can understand in the US too that they’d want to cut out asap the groups that are no longer funded, or they’d become a financial drain on the rest of the org and maybe jeopordise even more jobs.

      Reply ↓
  10. Earlk*

    For LW1 management were aware it was a march many employees would be interested in going and needed to tell you that they wouldn’t stop you from going but you absolutely cannot be seen to be representing the company while you’re there. They would’ve included that you were welcome to go because saying you couldn’t is even more political.

    Reply ↓
    1. Smithy*

      Yes – as someone in a sector/field who gets a lot of these messages – the point is usually far more about not wearing anything to identify the organization/appear as a spokesperson. In a few cases, I’ve even heard messaging about not wearing organization colors.

      On the flip side – when I’ve worked somewhere that is formally participating in a parade, march etc, there’s usually also guidance around that. It’s usually far more around identifying who the media representatives are that day, but still the same basic messaging about who is formally speaking for an organization and when.

      Reply ↓
  11. Whoopsie*

    AI is not a search engine. AI is not a search engine! Generative AI only generates text based on the input prompt and regularly hallucinates information – that’s not a search engine!

    You sound young, OP5, but now you’ve learned two important lessons: salaried exempt still means taking PTO if you can’t make up the hours, and AI is not a search engine.

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    1. The Body Is Round*

      Thank you. I don’t understand why people will just “ask an AI” like it has the answers to life, the universe, and everything.

      LW5 and their generation, if they don’t trust Google because it also sucks now (and I agree), should find a better search engine and learn to use operators or just… know what the websites are where laws can be found, and go directly there. You don’t need to go through a search engine to get to a website. You don’t need to use the library catalogue if you know where the book is.

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    2. DJ Abbott*

      I can see why people would refer to it like that, though. When you Google something, the first results come up prominently marked AI and they sound reasonable and comprehensive, as if AI actually had information and knew what it was doing. I still usually forget to put “-ai” at the end of my search string, and have to start over.
      It would be easy to forget AI is not the search engine.
      When I was young, most of us knew how to use quotes and boolean operators to refine the search. Within a few years, that functionality went away and no one was doing it. As the machines do more of the work people do less and forget, or are never taught, how to do it.

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      1. bamcheeks*

        The ones I find most frustrating are when it IS right, because it has just pulled a chunk of text from the relevant law, government website or professional website etc, and then added tiny changes that may be immaterial to the meaning of may totally reverse it. It’s such a miserable enshittification compared to LINKING TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

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      2. Antilles*

        When you Google something, the first results come up prominently marked AI and they sound reasonable and comprehensive, as if AI actually had information and knew what it was doing.
        Which is honestly more dangerous than if the AI was completely off-base and sounded bonkers, because by definition, the person who has to Google something doesn’t know the answer. So you don’t have the knowledge base to recognize an answer that’s plausible-but-wrong or an answer that’s mostly correct but missing one key step.
        Frankly, I think OP should be praised for the instinct to back-check the AI result with a knowledgeable human, rather than blindly accepting the AI’s response no questions asked.

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    3. Hobbling Up A Hill*

      I want to scream just a little bit every time someone says they’ve done that. I saw someone say ‘I asked ChatGPT to do some deep background for me’ and I quite literally facepalmed. AI is not a search engine, nor can it understand the concept of ‘deep background’.

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      1. Morgan*

        “I asked my weird buddy Steve, who’s read the entire Library of Congress, but has no common sense and can’t separate fact from fiction.”

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    4. Katie A*

      Wait, how did they learn that from this experience? I agree that AI isn’t a search engine, but the AI got it right in this case.

      Extrapolating from a single experience is limited, but you seem to be suggesting they should do that here. However, if they do that, it seems like the takeaway would be that AI correctly answers their questions and therefore fulfills the function of a search engine in this instance.

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  12. In the DMV*

    LW 2 – for organizations largely funded by the U.S. government, many don’t have cash on hand for payroll since the current changes end contract and payments. Many nonprofits don’t have the cash reserves to stay operational without money coming in. While many nonprofits are preparing for a future where the organization can sustain this, many are simply unable to float this period of time.

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    1. Smithy*

      Yeah – also a lot of these grants are structured where payments are done on arrears. So the payment comes after the work is completed.

      This is most common with government contracts (of which some nonprofits had along with for profit contractors), but the system for grants can still have a period where work is being done that is not yet paid for. Therefore a lot of these rapid firings are being done because not only will the future funding not be coming in, but depending on the risk exposure of an organization, they’ve also not been paid for work completed during the last quarter of 2024.

      All to say, this absolutely exacerbated the cash crunch.

      Reply ↓
  13. Anon Fed Contractor*

    #2–yes, layoffs are definitely happening that quickly. My organization had a large amount of work with USAID and the Department of Education—those contracts were cancelled with no notice and little to no hope of them being reinstated. We do not have the cash flow to be able to continue to keep all those staff on. We’ve already had two rounds of layoffs and I expect there will be more as the disruption continues.

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    1. LaminarFlow*

      I am so sorry. I have nothing to offer here beyond the platitudes of sending love & light/thoughts & prayers style phrases that can be purchased on mugs at HomeGoods. I am just incredibly sorry, embarrassed to be an American, and I stand with you and your counterparts at USAID and the Dept of Education. Your work is very important, and IDK how bad things are going to get from here, but I am scared.

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  14. Still have job but most of my friend’s don’t*

    Also, for LW#1 for foreign assistance the Executive Orders immediately stopped paying bills including for work that had been completed. For a lot of these companies say they performed work in November billed it out at 30 days in December, and would have expected to be paid at the end of January. Similar chain for December. This work has been done, the staff has been paid,, and a lot of companies don’t have the liquidity to carry people for very long. Several of the lawsuits are around this. Also, for what it is worth, there are federally mandated penalties for paying bills late, so the US government is racking up interest penalties that are going to cost an enormous amount of money.

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    2. Inflatable Unicorn*

      This work has been done, the staff has been paid,, and a lot of companies don’t have the liquidity to carry people for very long.

      This is something that I don’t think has really sunk into the general American consciousness yet, and I fear the moment it does. Right now the US is coasting on savings and the promise of restored funding and/or the promise of successful lawsuits. Everything still *seems* more or less normal and functional.

      But Cutting off All The Money and forcing use of savings now means companies and individuals won’t have that cushion to help them weather any *other* trouble, be it a government shutdown or the 90 days DOGE says it will take to assess funding, much less an extended bad economy.

      90 days – three whole months – is a long time. The cynic in me wonders if DOGE announced that length of shutoff just to force companies into bankruptcy so DOGE could claim they “saved” the funding that would have gone to them.

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      1. Kivrin*

        This is why I, as a Canadian, am shocked at the idea that in the other letter that you should “separate politics from work.” Every single job in North America right now is being affected or going to be deeply affected by politics. Pretending it’s not is like saying you should go about your business and ignore the smoke detectors blaring and smoke seeping under the doors.

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  15. the Viking Diva*

    Great to see the response to OP1 in time for others to take part – US rally sites listed at stand up for science 2025 dot org

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    1. Nonprofit writer*

      Thank you for this info, Viking Diva!

      OP1, you are totally right & I will be marching with you! (Either in spirit or in person, I need to see where the marches are.)

      Signed, a non scientist who loves science (and who is alive thanks to cancer research)

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  16. Bonkers*

    Does the WARN Act not apply to the federal government? My husband was purged on Monday with no notice and no severance, as far as we know so far.

    I’d be shocked, just shocked, if this administration were disregarding applicable laws. /s

    Reply ↓
    1. Hlao-roo*

      The “Worker’s Guide” to the WARN Act from the Department of Labor website says employees not covered by the WARN Act include “Regular federal, state, or local government employees.”

      I will link to the pdf in a reply. The “EMPLOYEES NOT PROTECTED BY WARN” section is on page 7 of the pdf.

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    2. Enough*

      Unfortunately many of the laws passed apply only to private companies and not to government entities. And I doubt this is an exception.

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  18. Hyaline*

    Re #1: I feel like line on politics at work when it comes to informing employees about marches, protests, petitions, etc related to work doesn’t really change unless the manager is pressuring employees to participate–giving signals that favoritism will be applied to your actions, or expectations or department wide plans to participate regardless of individual beliefs or how safe they feel participating. We’ve had multiple state and campus level policy changes warranting protest in the past few years, and our chairs have always made it very clear that they were sharing for informative purposes and that no one should feel pressured to pitch in–even if they themselves were spearheading the effort.

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  19. RCB*

    #1, it’s not political, it’s governmental, that’s very different. If it were political they’d be telling you who to vote for or talking to you about things related to voting and candidates, but this is governmental, it’s making you aware of something that government officials are doing so that you can advocate (if you chose, it is optional) on an issue that impacts you professional and personally. That’s a much more accurate way to look at it and a better way to frame it in your mind and to others who worry this might be political.

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  20. Fed Here*

    Maybe I’m overly sensitive as a fed who wonders every day if this is the day I’m let go, but I got a whiff of LW2 wanting to put this on corporate greed over a government that is actively and openly breaking the law and wreaking havoc. Again, I’m sensitive right now, but it would go a long way if people could take a beat to think before they assign blame. (And I’m fully aware of the irony of my comment.)

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    2. Anon Fed Contractor*

      I mean, my company is a non-profit and very well run financially and we are still having to lay a lot of folks off. There’s simply no other way to make the numbers work.

      Reply ↓
  21. ark*

    I cannot believe this even needs to be said, but OP5, you really should not be asking an AI legal questions. Like come on let’s use our own intelligence for a second and consider that.

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  22. Susannah*

    Something of a side point, but I wish people wouldn’t dismiss matters of actual values and human rights as being “politics” not worthy of discussion at the office. People starving or dying of treatable illnesses, for example, because of eviscerating USAID isn’t “politics.” It’s life-and-death, and it’s human dignity and decency (or indecency).

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  23. NYer*

    I do not know if this is legal, but I worked for a company that was closing and in leui of the WARN notification, they gave us 3 months pay and health insurance and allowed us to use our work phones and emails. One of the higher ups said they might have to file for bankruptcy.

    Reply ↓

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